Personal Info
- Country of residence: Portugal
Information
Mahmoud Muhammad Khalaf was born in Gaza City on April 18, 1963. He is married and has three sons and two daughters. He completed his primary education at Salah al-Din and al-Hashimiya schools, and his secondary education at Yafa Secondary School, graduating in 1982. He earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic language from the Faculty of Education at the Islamic University in 1989. He was appointed as an employee at the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 1996.
Khalaf joined the Democratic Front in 1979, and was one of its student cadres. He progressed through the organizational positions within it, until he became a member of its Central Committee in 1991. His membership was renewed during the Seventh General National Conference of the Democratic Front in 2021. He is a member of the Supreme Council of the General Union of Palestinian Workers since 2012, and was responsible for the Workers’ Unity Bloc until 2016. He has been the coordinator of the Joint Committee for Refugees since 2016, and a member of the Follow-up Committee for National and Islamic Forces representing the Democratic Front, and the official in charge of the Activities Committee for National and Islamic Forces.
Khalaf was active in social, union and legal work, and he sought to alleviate the burdens on the Palestinian working class, defend labor issues, pressure the Legislative Council to pass a labor law that does justice to the working class, conduct elections within unions, federations, student councils and all professional institutions on the basis of a fair and just election law based on full proportional representation, adopt laws that do justice to women and meet their rights, and adopt student issues and their rights.
Khalaf participated in a conference on Palestinian prisoners held in Morocco in 2012, and another conference in Algeria in 2013. He also participated in a number of events in Lebanon. He is in contact with the former and current Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the United Nations representative on funding for UNRWA services and various operational projects for Palestinian refugees, and the Middle East peace process coordinator through his attendance at meetings held in the Gaza Strip.
He adopts socialist thought. He believes that the Oslo Accords severely damaged the Palestinian cause and created a major rift in the Palestinian street between supporters and opponents, which later contributed to the Palestinian division, which established a deteriorating situation at all levels, including the Palestinian political system, which became an individual system controlled by one party, far from political partnership. He believes in comprehensive resistance in all its forms, including armed struggle, based on his belief in the right of the Palestinian people to resist as long as they are under occupation, and he is in favor of adopting the theory of the politicized rifle.
It supports the national partnership in the PLO based on the principle of "partners in blood, partners in decision-making," and calls for reforming the PLO and the participation of all Palestinians in it, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, through free and democratic elections. It also calls for changing the functions of the Palestinian Authority so that it becomes an authority that defends the people, the land, and Palestinian interests. It supports the PLO's phased program calling for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, and considers it the logical and realistic solution in light of this situation, while guaranteeing the full right of return for refugees who were displaced from their lands with compensation, according to UN Resolution No. (194), which paves the way for the establishment of a unified democratic Palestinian state in which everyone living on this land can coexist on the basis of justice, equality, and democracy.
He believes the situation in the Arab world is difficult and deteriorating, with some Arab countries plagued by chaos, division, and weakness as a result of foreign interventions, which has led some to normalize relations with the occupation. He maintains that the struggle against the occupation is ongoing, and the Palestinian people must continue to demand their rights. Despite the division and weakness plaguing the Palestinian cause, this has not deterred Palestinian youth from confronting the occupation. He calls for an agreement on a unified national political strategy based on a shared national political program, along with efforts to end the division and achieve national unity.
Khalaf suffered from the occupation throughout his life; he was arrested in 1983 for fourteen months inside Gaza Central Prison, during which he was subjected to harsh interrogation for three months, and his graduation from university was delayed. He was arrested again in 1989 and continued to be interrogated brutally for more than three months. He spent three years in this detention in Gaza Central and Negev prisons, and was prevented from traveling between (2010-2011).
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